Blues drop second straight on road

Four power-play goals carry Oilers past St. Louis

Published 7:25 am, Thursday, March 17, 2016

The Blues’ Colton Parayko (left) and Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle battle for the puck during second period Wednesday night in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Blues’ Colton Parayko (left) and Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle battle for the puck during second period Wednesday night in Edmonton, Alberta.

Photo: Associated Press

Blues drop second straight on road

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

EDMONTON, Alberta — The power play was a big advantage for the Edmonton Oilers — for a change.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Letestu each scored twice and the Oilers used four goals with the man advantage to defeat the St. Louis Blues 6-4 on Wednesday night.

“It was really nice to break out in a big way like we did tonight,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We had five, but four counted. It’s something we’ve been harping on. It hasn’t been good enough lately and, tonight, we broke out. We won some battles, took some shots and it paid off.”

Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers, who have won six of their last 10 games, but had lost their last two.

David Backes scored twice, and Jaden Schwartz and Patrik Berglund also had goals for the Blues, who have lost two straight after a six-game winning streak.

“Their power play was struggling and we let them breathe a little bit and they got to display all their skill with five that they put in, one that was disallowed. That’s not us,” Backes said. “Today, we took penalties that were less than disciplined and they made us pay time and time again.”

Edmonton took the lead eight minutes into the first period with a rare power-play goal, just their second in their last 33 attempts. Patrick Maroon chipped a rebound out in front to Nugent-Hopkins, who sent his ninth of the season past Blues starter Jake Allen.

“The power play was as good as we’ve seen it this season,” said Connor McDavid, who assisted on two power-play goals. “We’ve been getting our chances, but it was good to see some finally go in.”

The Oilers went up 2-0 with 6:30 remaining in the opening frame as a big rebound came out to Hall, who beat a diving Allen.

Backes beat Cam Talbot with a shot to the top corner just 45 seconds later, cutting the Blues’ deficit to 2-1.

The Blues tied it six minutes into the second period when Schwartz tipped Joel Edmundson’s shot into the net.

Edmonton got another power-play goal a couple minutes later when Letestu scored on his own rebound.

The Oilers had what looked to be another power-play goal by Draisaitl called back on a coach’s challenge for being offside, but McDavid fed him again to get the goal back later in the man advantage.

The Oilers got a fourth power-play goal to make it 5-2 with two minutes left in the second period as Nugent-Hopkins beat Allen with a quick wrist shot for his second of the game.

St. Louis got a power-play goal early in the third when Berglund fought off a defender to bang in a rebound in tight.

The Blues cut it to a one-goal game six minutes into the third on Backes’ shot past Talbot.

Letestu scored into an empty net to cap the scoring.

NOTES: The Oilers play host to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The Blues are at Vancouver on Saturday. … The Blues had already defeated the Oilers twice this season and came into the game seeking a ninth straight win against Edmonton. The Blues were 13-1-0 in their previous 14 games against the Oilers.